Making up
by NerdyNobody
Summary: Jackson tries to apologize to one he had hurt the most


"I can't do this. I really can't do this. He's gonna hate me."

"Jackson."

"But why wouldn't he? I bullied him for the longest time and only started really working with him recently..."

"Jackson."

"I can't! He'll-"

"Jackson!" Ms. Holiday shouted, breaking Jackson out of his nervous rant and finally turning his full attention to her. She sighed and shook her head, giving him a look.

"Jackson. It'll be fine. All you have to do is go up to him and tell him that you're sorry, and that you're going to do better with him." She said, putting her hands gently on his shoulders. Jackson swallowed hard, glancing across The Playground and focusing in on the one and only red head of the team: Heathcliff. Simply looking at him made Jackson nervous in the moment.

"I...don't know. What if he doesn't forgive me?" He said quietly. Ms. Holiday sighed, looking Jackson in the eye.

"Then he doesn't forgive you. But as you know already, not everyone will. You simply must work with that, and do the best you can despite it. Him not forgiving you doesn't make an excuse not to try your best to right your wrongs." She explained firmly. Jackson swallowed again before taking a deep breath, looking back up at her with determination in his expression, and nodded.

"Right." He said, turning on his heel and toward his intended target. Ms. Holiday gave him an encouraging pat on the back as he strut forward, confidence in his step. However, with every second he got closer, that confidence puttered out, and the nervous weight in his chest had returned in a flash. He continued on despite this, and was soon standing behind Heathcliff, his body stiff.

"Uhhhh, heyyy...Heathcliff." Jackson choked out. Heathcliff turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow slightly at his obviously tense posture and nervous grin.

"Hello, Jackson. Something wrong?" He asked. Jackson shook his head furiously, fishing about for an excuse to get him alone.

"Um, uh, n-no. Ice cream." He stammered. Heathcliff blinked in confusion at the sentence.

"What?" He asked.

"Ice cream! I'm taking you out for ice cream!" Jackson squeaked, grabbing Heathcliff's hand and beginning to yank him towards the exit despite his confused protests and questions.

Really? Taking him out for ice cream? That was his excuse? Why couldn't he just have said it right there? It was easy! Just a small talk and he could have been done with it! But no, he just had to make it even more awkward and pull Heathcliff out of The Playground for something as stupid as that.

A couple seconds after the two had come stumbling out of the lockers, Heathcliff was finally able to pull his wrist away from Jackson.

"Jackson! What's up with you?" He asked. Jackson bit his lip, attempting to look anywhere but at the other boy in front of him.

"I mean...it's just...I..." He started, but sighed and shook his head. He needed to get it over with without causing himself anymore embarrassment.

"I just...needed to say...sorry." He said slowly. Heathcliff blinked in confusion, not seeing the point.

"What? It's fine you dragged me out for ice cream I just want to know w-"

"It's not that!" Jackson shouted, causing Heathcliff to jump slightly. Jackson flushed slightly in embarrassment at his own outburst, coughing into his hand and looking away.

"I mean, uh, it's not that. I just..." Once again he trailed off as he swallowed yet another lump in his throat. Where was his "man up" attitude when he needed it?

Out the window probably.

Heathcliff's stare only made his words harder to force out as he finally began to speak once more.

"It's that...I'm sorry about...before. Before all this. Before I joined the team. Before we got on ok terms with each other." He said. Heathcliff blinked in shock. He never thought he would hear those words out of Jackson Jones's mouth in his lifetime, yet here he was. He opened his mouth to speak, but Jackson cut him off with a hand.

"Hold on, just let me talk for a second." He said, "I know what I did was really bad. I hurt the team I hurt a lot of other people, and most of all I hurt you. And I know that I can't excuse what I did. I was a really crappy person. I bullied you, and I ended up making you do all that really bad stuff with trying to take over the-"

"I'm stopping you right there." Heathcliff cut Jackson off. He pinched the bridge of his nose and pushed his glasses up to look at him.

"Yeah, you did really crappy things to me. But it's not your fault I did what I did. Those were my choices, and I could have gone back any time. I was just too stubborn and dumb to do it." He said, crossing his arms.

"No! You're fine! It was my fault for pushing you." Jackson replied, shaking his head.

"Jackson, no. I-"

"I shouldn-"

"I started i-"

"It's fin-"

"No it's no-"

"It i-"

"Jackson..."

"Heathcliff.."

"It was my fault!" The two shouted in unison. At the suddenly synchronised shout, they stopped, staring at each other. After a couple moments, Jackson snorted. That snort slowly morphed into chuckles, and those chuckles turned into loud pearls of laughter that echoed through the hall. Heathcliff smirked, eventually joining him in his gutbusting chortles. Heathcliff's laugh, Jackson noted, had shifted greatly from the practiced evil laugh that he had once heard what seemed like ages ago.

Eventually the laughter finally faded, and the two were left wiping the tears from their eyes as they caught their breath.

"Geez. I guess we both have some things that need fixing." Jackson said, rubbing the back of his neck. Heathcliff nodded in agreement, still smiling slightly.

"Yeah. But I mean, we're trying to...so that's something, right?" He said. Jackson nodded as well. They went silent for a seconds before the blonde boy finally spoke again.

"So, uh, still up for ice cream?" He asked. Heathcliff grinned.

"Yeah. That sounds good."

{Let them make up, Buckley. Let them make up and not only have two little moments in the last book. Let my children make upppppppppp.}


End file.
